by far, i’m a terrible eater. this isn’t to say i don’t love food, because i’m a huge “fan of my groceries” (lol i love that term). but i do not eat healthy, by any stretch. it’s not that i’m opposed to it, i’ve definitely tried on countless occasions. i just am not good at it.
these bad habits are the reason we’re planning on trying the whole 30 – it’s a bit extreme, but to reverse 30 years of bad habits, i think we’re going to need extreme.
dylan is almost seven months and everything goes into the mouth! since we’ve started solids (a combo of puréeing and baby lead weaning (BLW)*), i want to make sure that what she eats is as healthy as possible. i’m not a crunchy mom (not that there’s anything wrong with crunchy moms) but i also don’t want to pump her little body full of garbage. since she’s teething and we can’t always have cucumber or apple slices (aside: apple slices really stain), i decided i wanted to make her teething crackers out of quinoa.
i recently introduced the family to quinoa. starbucks has that great black bean quinoa wrap that i’ve tried to copycat and didn’t go over as well (the boy didn’t know what to do with it) but i made some black bean quinoa burgers, same idea, and those were a huge hit. i thought, since quinoa is such a miracle grain, why not give it to baby? and the interweb agreed.
i found this super simple recipe via Cradle Rocking Momma online and finally had some time to make it today (despite dylan’s constant protests…). it might literally be the simplest thing you ever make, and i do not use that term loosely. there are only three ingredients: quinoa flakes, quinoa flour, and water. i got our quinoa products at the bulk barn – they have both as bulk items, but they also have the flakes in a box. it was way more expensive, so we just went with the bulk.
basically, all you do is cook the quinoa flakes and then add the flour to make dough. i waited too long after my flakes were done, thinking they would be too hot, but you want the moisture from the flakes to help form the dough. i had to add extra water, no biggie. it makes a bit of a sticky mess, so definitely do as the original recipe calls for and use parchment paper. super clean and easy.
next time i make them, i also won’t roll the dough as thin as i did for these. i’m not very good at measurements… (don’t mind how terrible that photo is, ha, still getting used to the camera.)
once that step is over, simply pop them in the oven on low heat for just under an hour and voila! there’s a big difference in the look of CRM’s verus the ones that came out of our ancient Viking electric stove. her’s are so uniform and beautiful, while mine look super amateur. but my most important critic seemed pleased with the end result… 
i ended up with crumbs ALL OVER THE PLACE. they say that’s how you know you’ve got a hit when it comes to babies and food, and in this case, i willingly believe them. even the boy couldn’t resist stealing a bite. bear in mind, they’re sticky when wet, kind of like papier-mâché, which could also be why dylan loves them so much. she’s a huge fan of making huge messes.
*For those who don’t know… baby lead weaning doesn’t involve pureeing and there are a lot of purists out there who will say that if you are doing a combo of the two it’s not actually BLW. Frankly, I say whatever the hell works for you and your babe – don’t let the naysayers and detractors get you down.